This gathering will bring together the activist, academic, and faith-based communities for a public conversation on how to successfully address such profound challenges as our growing social inequality, mass incarceration, sustainable economic development, global warming, and a culture that is still struggling to embrace difference. The keynote speakers are influential social critic Dr. Cornel West and Rev. James Forbes, internationally renowned preacher. Other speakers include UAW President Bob King, Professor Patricia Gurin, human rights lawyer Deborah Labelle, Professor Ahmad Rahman and others. They will address how our traditions, practices, and institutions can become the tools for transformation that they were meant to be and how we can build a movement that will allows us to overcome our isolation and be effective in working together. Brian Buckner and the Incarnation choir and The Spirit Singing Band will provide musical interludes.